Safety tax is headed to ballot

By peter roper
The pueblo chieftain

Published: August 22, 2014;Last modified: August 22, 2014 04:00AM

A half-cent sales tax to beef up the Pueblo police and fire departments appears to be headed for the November ballot without any language to protect the city budget from its $7 million-a-year surge in revenues that could force taxpayer refunds.

City Council will consider a resolution Monday night that puts the question on the ballot. The unions gathered the needed voter signatures to get the question on the ballot, so council is only reviewing the wording.

Ken Rhodes, president of the police union, said lawyers for the police and fire unions don’t want to add any language to the ballot question to “de-Bruce” the revenue that would come from the new tax.

“We’re not going to change any of the wording that was on the original petitions we took to voters,” Rhodes said Thursday. “We also don’t believe there is any real danger that money from the half-cent tax would cause the city to hit its (TABOR) limits.”